goal which tied the scores overall. With the last play of normal time, Gardner's shot was touched onto the post by Green, and the game went into extra time. Four minutes later, Gardner repeated the shot with enough power and accuracy to beat Green and give Birmingham the 4–3 aggregate lead which took them into the final. Final Going into the final, media focus centred on the competition being the first element of Arsenal's potential quadruple, their failure to win a trophy for six years, and concerns over the fitness of their captain Cesc Fàbregas. Pundits and bookmakers were in agreement that there could be only one winner, though Cameron Jerome suggested that being overwhelming favourites would put extra pressure on Arsenal, and that if they had a weakness, it lay with their defence. To counteract Arsenal's perceived strength, their passing ability in midfield, McLeish set his side out in a 4–5–1 formation with three defensive midfieldersFerguson covering the centre backs and Gardner and Bowyer closing opponents down and chasingand wide players Fahey and Larsson supporting the tall but less mobile Žigić. In the first two minutes, Bowyer ran on to a through ball from Žigić and was brought down by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny for what appeared to be a penalty and a red card. Arsenal were relieved to see the linesman raise his flag for offside, though television replays showed his decision to have been wrong. With nearly half an hour gone, Larsson's corner seemed to confuse the Arsenal centre backs. Roger Johnson headed the ball towards goal and Žigić outjumped his opponents to head home. Towards half time, Jack Wilshere hit the crossbar, and when Birmingham failed to clear, Andrey Arshavin crossed for Robin van Persie to direct an aerial volley past Foster. Early in the second half, Beausejour replaced Gardner. A few minutes later he set up Fahey, whose poor shot hit teammate Žigić. The ball rebounded back to Fahey who reacted quickly to volley it goalwards, only for it to strike the inside of the post with Szczęsny beaten and bounce across the goal to safety. Van Persie, who had hurt himself in the act of scoring, was struggling by the middle of the second half and was replaced by former Birmingham loanee Nicklas Bendtner. Towards the end of normal time, Birmingham were tiring; Johnson remained on the field after receiving treatment for an injury that